1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to a frame independent electric blower housing which may be mounted in-line, with essentially nonparallel interior walls, and which is thereby acoustically silenced and is also easily disassembled for maintenance.
2. Description of the Prior Art
A primary application of this invention is to house the electric blowers used in the spa industry, in an acoustically silenced housing with essentially nonparallel interior walls. The essentially nonparallel interior walls may have a geometry which is spherical or the zone of a sphere, cylindrical, conical or a frustum of a cone, or a combination of these geometries. Nonparallel walls as cited throughout this specification and claims are comprised of the above geometries. Blower used in the spa industry for blowing air, rather than another fluid, are sometimes referred to as aerators. Throughout this specification, the term "blower" is meant to also include the nearly synonymous term "aerator". Other applications for this invention include, but are not limited to blowers used in, e.g., air purification systems and the blowers used in various other industries.
This blower housing invention is frame independent and is easily disassembled for maintenance. This blower housing may be mounted in-line. The term "in-line", as cited throughout this specification and claims, means that the fluid or air flow travels straight through the blower, so as not to obstruct the fluid or, e.g., air. Other blowers in the industry make a curved, deflected or 90 degree turn, and thereby do not provide a smooth, clear, and laminar flow, without turbulence or obstructions which may have a variety of mechanical and acoustic disadvantages. The electric blower housings used in the spa industry have the disadvantage of being noisy and the vibration and flutter from this noise resonates throughout much of the spa, causing annoyance and discomfort to those using the spa. Thus, there is a need and a demand for an acoustically silenced or noise minimized electric blower housing.
Throughout this specification and its claims, the terms: housing, enclosure, casing, and cover are meant to be synonymous; and although the term "housing" will be used, that term is understood to also mean enclosure, casing, or cover.
Another disadvantage of the electric blower housings used in the spa industry, is that they require considerable effort and time to retrieve or replace the motor. In the event of blower motor failure, it is a common practice in the spa industry to replace both the motor and its housing, rather than to service the motor or to replace the motor. This may be particularly expensive when one considers that the blower housing is often more expensive than the blower motor. The present invention solves many of these industry problems and is a significant advancement is the technology of housing blowers, i.e., motors, and particularly those used in the spa industry.
In trying to solve these disadvantages or problems, and within the scope of this objective, it was surprising to find that the present invention need not be comprised of a highly complicated design or of advanced materials, and that it need not be expensive or difficult to manufacture.